And what a day it was. I scheduled her birthday party for noon and I do not know WHAT I was thinking. Noon, really? I wake up, shower, clean, and bake 3 dozen cookies from scratch and 2 dozen cupcakes? And get pizza?
And not setting an alarm clock. That wasn’t the best idea either.
The end result is that it came together – barely, but it did. And you know? It was fine. Everyone had a good time, the cupcakes and cookies were made, things were put out, gifts were opened, and we are ending the day with love and gratitude.
Both of my children are miracle babies, for different reasons. As I’ve said a million times, Charlotte is my miracle baby mostly because the cleft in her soft palate was so big that were she born in a third-world country, she would not have survived. That weighs SO heavily on me; this beautiful child would have just…not been. Due to that, we asked last year that in lieu of gifts, people donate to Operation Smile in her name. And they respected our (very firm) wishes and did so. And because of that, we raised enough to sponsor a surgery for a child affected by cleft in a third world country.
Last year, I made the same pact, and throughout this year, our family alone has done so. So, for 2013, another child will have a surgery because of Charlotte. We did allow people to give her presents, this year, though, and she loved them and has been playing with them since!
I ask that you keep Operation Smile in mind; they do wonderful work and they have such important jobs; to save lives that otherwise may not have survived.
Happy Birthday, my baby girl.
